KKR cruise to victory
Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc made it a Bengali New Year to remember for the Kolkata Knight Riders fans at the Eden Gardens, as the hosts thumped visiting Lucknow Super Giants by 8 wickets on Sunday. Starc picked up important LSG wickets to finish on 3 for 28, his best figures of the season, while Salt led the charge in the second innings with an unbeaten 47-ball 89. KKR now sit second on the points table with a win in the first of their five straight games at home this month.
KKR were left chasing a comfortable target courtesy their spinners' efforts in the middle overs where they did not let LSG break away despite having wickets in hand. Sunil Narine took 1 for 17 in four while Varun Chakravarthy claimed 1 for 30 in his spell. Together, their eight overs came at only 5.88 per over.
As for LSG, there were two bright spots: Nicholas Pooran and Mohsin Khan. From No. 6, Pooran struck four sixes and two fours to make a 32-ball 45 to give LSG a competitive total while Mohsin's picked up the only two KKR wickets in the powerplay.